3597 LMT problems connecting to PC

**isg** · 16th January 2014, 09:19 AM

Sorry for delay, but my Nuvi "hit the road" yesterday, because of one of my friends emergency.
I'll continue with test in the weekend.
Yesterday I have made NonVol clear several times because on first and second attempt the trips were not erased or were partially erased and unit also said "Can't unlock maps" which is not possible, because I have LM.
After third attempt of clearing NV PC start to detect the unit without any problem and unit started to behave normally. Have no time to check additionally, but GE also started to detect unit and to start with unit connection to the PC.
So, at this stage, I can say that there are always at least two reasons for not detecting unit from PC - PC software problems and unit FW/SW problems.
In my impression up to the moment 3597 FW/SW is more vulnerable that 3590 for example.
I did not mention it up to now, but before clearing NV, when I connect unit to PC I have saw 3 USB generic devices:
Garmin - unit
SD card
and some very strange logical device - H:\ - which disc volume is 128 MB. It is shown only when unit is connected to the PC....
I have no such a card/disc. No external device connected at all. But it is accessible and I have RW permissions. Even GE made a backup on it.
I'm not an PC expert, but I have enough experience with PC to know how to find some logical discs, directories etc. Checked all computer - nothing.
Any idea what could be that mysterious drive H:\ ?

**Giomen** · 16th January 2014, 10:32 PM

Please read post above there Neil gave a comprehensive answer about RWFS drive.

**Neil** · 17th January 2014, 08:25 AM

@isg
You can choose to show or hide RWFS in Mass Storage Mode. Go to Diagnostics Page>RWFS Settings. However when "Show in Mass Storage" is checked, it will show up as another 'Device with Removable Storage' the same as your 3597 and microSD do, as it is not seen as a conventional Logical Drive which would be in with your Hard Disk Drives. RWFS will also show as "Disk [number] Removable" in Windows Disk Management between the 3597 and microSD.

In the screenshot below GARMIN (H:) is a Logical Drive split off from my Win 8 partition to allow writing to it by patched MS & MI [because i have my system drives write protected]. GARMIN (L:) is the RWFS which always appears immediately following the unit if 'Show' is selected and the microSD, if inserted in the unit, showing behind it [sequence is 0:/, 1:/, 2:/ which is reflected by the ascending sequence of the Disk Nos and Drive letters assigned by Windows]:

w7hh

**dasilvarsa** · 2nd February 2014, 09:11 AM

I still think that SD Card should not have GarminDevice.xml
We need another European user of 3597 with pre-installed SD to confirm this.

Edited to change typo 3595 to 3597

**Neil** · 2nd February 2014, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by dasilvarsa

I still think that SD Card should not have GarminDevice.xml
We need another European user of 3595 with pre-installed SD to confirm this.

Agree. I'm still a little bemused/nonplussed by xml file on the OEM installed microSD. You mean 3597 of course Dasil .... i'll do the typos around here thank you

.

**isg** · 2nd February 2014, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by dasilvarsa

I still think that SD Card should not have GarminDevice.xml
We need another European user of 3597 with pre-installed SD to confirm this.

Edited to change typo 3595 to 3597

Just checked a friend's 3597. On SD he has same GarminDevice.xml file. File structure and content are the same. Just SD Card number differs which is obvious.

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**Neil** · 3rd February 2014, 12:54 AM

The card's xml file is quite brief and maybe it's purpose is to limit use of it to storage of only gmapsupp.img and POIs when used in the unit, unless the unit or Garmin's software is capable of writing additional information to it later. If you remove it from the sd does the unit recreate it on reboot or when you connect to GE? It's seemingly being written to by some method because there's a windows drive letter being allocated: <DisplayName>Memory Card (G:\)</DisplayName>. Have you been able to compare earlier backups of that file to the current?

Code:

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**isg** · 16th February 2014, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Neil

........ If you remove it from the sd does the unit recreate it on reboot or when you connect to GE?......

No - when I remove it from SD card non of Garmin programs creates it again.

Originally Posted by Neil

.... Have you been able to compare earlier backups of that file to the current?

No unfortunately - I never made a backup copy of SD because there is no SW/FW on it. Just map and POI.

And to answer to previous suggestion about ejecting of both unit and SD - tried on other PC with XP and WIN7 - same behaviour and unit stays on.

**Neil** · 17th February 2014, 01:08 AM

I'd simply remove the XML file from the microSD and see if GE complains when you next try to update the map and software. Going by your earlier posts you're not using the original card to which the XML belongs anyway so i can't see that there'd be any problem.

As to the unit not wanting to disconnect in MSM, that is NOT proper behaviour for a 3597, with or without a card. Some units such as 1xxx and 7xx series will reboot and run in navigation mode if not immediately disconnected from the PC when safely removed, but my 3597 simply turns off as do other nuvi series.